Kathleen Doesn't Get Out Much

...so she gets Blockbuster by mail and HBO. And books. Lots of printed books. But it's been a while since I yakked about movies, and when Helen brought up the subject of chick flicks recently, I decided I was due. I loved Doris Day and Rock Hudson when I was a kid--the original chick flick duo. (Tracy and Hepburn are the ultimate, but I don't consider those movies chick flicks. Do you?)

Of the CFs we get these days, I generally genuinely like about one in three. So I've got comments on three this morning, and I hope you'll add yours. Oh, and Sex In the City 2 is not one of my three. The trailer makes me gag. Not my cuppa. But recently I took in 3 CFs almost back to back. Clyde fell asleep on all three, but bottom to top of the heap IMO, they were The Proposal, Leap Year, and The Ugly Truth. Frankly, this setup--uptight professional woman meets guy who takes her down a peg so that he can sweep her off her feet--wears thin lately. (Tracy never took Hepburn down, not even a peg.) But the best of these three--The Ugly Truth--was saved by decent repartee and sexy Gerard Butler. The two characters were a worthy match for each other, and the dialogue kept me smiling. Leap Year was so-so. It's set in Ireland--lots of great scenery, lots of green--and the culture clash adds some fun. In both of these stories, it's hard to see what the heroine could possible see in the guy she's set her cap for, but oh well. Mr. Laid Back Right is Johny On the Spot.

I thought The Proposal was weak, weak, weak. The dialogue was trite, the heroine was a caricature, the hero had little appeal, and they didn't click for me. Given this setup, Sandra Bullock plays the same role the same way every time. She deserves better. She can do better.

Switching genres, I saw one last night that kept me guessing. That's the kind of movie I like. Don't make the dialogue so predictable that I can recite a line before the actor delivers it. Don't give me a story made up of one same-old same-old scene after another. The Burning Plain is a heavy drama--troubled heroine, layered characters, shades of gray. Excellent performances by Charleze Theron and Kim Basinger, along with a wonderful supporting cast. Get ready to be challenged a bit. It's not a linear story, but you soon realize that we're switching back and forth between sets of characters who will somehow come together, and you begin to sense a layering of time periods. I love a well-written script and a writer who takes a few risks. Writer/director Guillermo Arriaga is good at his job. He did The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, with Tommy Lee Jones and Barry Pepper, which explores similar themes (guilt, redemption) in a different way. Both really well-written.

Finally, don't waste your time with The New Daughter. I picked it up because I thought Kevin Costner--who's not much of an actor IMO--usually doesn't get involved in a bad script. This one was absurd. Clyde and I looked at each other when the credits rolled on this one and said, "Why did we sit through that?" It was that mind-numbingly bad.

Oh, hey, has anyone else seen Robin Hood? Worth the price of the theater ticket. Lovely, lovely, lovely. It got mixed reviews from critics, but I'm a Robin Hood fan from way back, and I really enjoyed this version. It's the back story of a legend, and Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett are wonderful in their roles.

What's your take on any of these, and what have you seen lately?